


Counting sheep is the best way to sleep... sometimes.

by robinlaws



Category: Gintama
Genre: Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 09:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6046135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinlaws/pseuds/robinlaws
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kagura can't sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting sheep is the best way to sleep... sometimes.

"Kamui," she says and he says "Kagura."

Siblings are made to fight each other from the moment they were born, so when it comes to the clash of Yato siblings, the fighting reached extreme scales. But Kamui is absurdly strong, over powered like almost every single Shonen manga protagonist, and she finds herself suffocating in the rivers of blood that flows down her face. While Kamui is strong, she is weak, too weak to protect anyone.

She is already fallen, staring up at Kamui in defiance but she hears her heart pounding hard, threatening to leap out of her throat and she watches as he steps closer and raises his hand. It is over. She is too weak to fight back, and she sees the bodies of all those that her Yato brother has killed. His lips move as he says something but she hears nothing. She knows she is defeated.

Kamui's smile is chilling, his form covered in blood. He comes in for the kill. And she squeezes her eyes shut.

 

 

She is not dead.

Instead she feels warm blood splatter across her face and when she looks up, she sees the fist Kamui had intended for her, but stuck through someone else's body, and she screams. Kamui only pushes Gintoki away, disgust on his face as she grabs the man's shoulders, sobbing.

"No, no, no, Gin-chan you're not dead, you never die! What are we going to do without you?"

He's been injured worse, Gintoki's suffered so much but he always manages to get back up and smile that shitty smile, but he's not getting up this time. And Kamui... he's stepping closer and he smiles.

 

 

 

Kagura wakes with a start, choking back a cry and sits up quickly. For a few moments, she catches her breath, breathes deeply, but the closet is too constricting, too claustrophobic and she wipes away the sweat and tears on her face- she isn't sure which it is now- before pushing open the sliding door to gulp in fresh air. The cool and quietness is comforting. She hears Sadaharu's soft form turning beneath her and the clocks tick, tick, ticking....

But it's _too_ quiet. She and Sadaharu are the only living things in this area; there doesn't seem to be anything else.

She steps out of the closet and closes the sliding door, waiting for a few moments before running over to the living room door. It's still quiet. She slides the door open and peers in, and- here, she sighs in relief- Gintoki is curled up in his futon, snoring quietly.

"Gin-chan?"

Her voice sounds small and goes unanswered.

"Gin-chan, please be awake.."

She suddenly feels like a child once more, terrified of the dark but there is no shame in that. All she seeks is some comfort, some closure. She closes the door behind her, as she steps over the tatami mats and kneels by his futon. Gintoki's brow is furrowed and he mutters something in his sleep. He's drunk, she realises, as she can smell the rice wine and the smell is unpleasantly sharp. But it's her reminder that good, old, unreliable Gintoki is still there.

She lifts the blankets slightly before moving under them, pressing her cheek against his chest and breathing his old man smell in. Apart from the alcohol, he smells faintly of sweat and something he's eaten earlier. She rests her head on his bicep, under his chin and listens to his heartbeat. It's steady, and she finds herself relaxing. Gintoki is warm, and very much alive. She knows how dead people always go stiff and cold, and it's because their souls have escaped and no longer move inside them. Gin's soul will never leave his body because he's devoted his body to protecting that soul. He is the fortress of his soul, and she can only hope that she is part of it too; a moat, the soldiers- for Gintoki is the man who tries to protect everyone, and she should pay him back. A one-sided promise, like the one he, they made to the old hag's husband.

His arm moves, hand rests in her hair and she looks up. He's woken.

"Oi Kagura-chan, whatcha doin' here?" His inebriation is clear through his slurring, but he's patting her head, moving slightly to make himself comfortable.

"Let me sleep with you."

He stops.

"Huh? Y'know our show's doing badly, you want us be taken off completely?"

"Not in that way." Normally she would've hit him for his terrible humour, but it was reassuring to know that her Gin-chan, her usual, horrible, smelly, bad-jokes Gin-chan is still there. "Not in that way..." she repeats, softer this time, and tentatively slips her arm around his waist. He huffs slightly and resumes patting her head. It hasn't been uncommon, as of lately, for her to sneak into his room and set up her futon beside him. Kagura's cheeks are still wet, and he can feel it; she must be having nightmares as opposed to insomnia.

His head aches terribly, but he lets her remain.


End file.
